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    European Mennonites and the Holocaust

    Mark Jantzen (Edited by), John D. Thiesen (Edited by)

    9781487525545

    Paperback / softback, published 26 January 2021

    352 pages, 1 figure
    22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm, 0.55 kg

    "In addition to standing as an important historical study, European Mennonites and the Holocaust should prompt Anabaptists in North America — particularly white Anabaptists — to reflect on their own legacies of anti-Jewish prejudice and discern how to stand against antisemitism as part of their antiracist commitments."

    - Alain Epp Weaver (Anabaptist World)

    "The value of this book reaches well be­yond telling tales of depraved Mennonites. Several chap­ters reflect on the thinking and rationalizations which emboldened Mennonites to reject historic Anabaptism."

    - David Giesbrecht (Roots and Branches)

    "European Mennonites and the Holocaust adds telling details to the picture of Mennonites during the Nazi era … The contributors do not shrink from addressing the gray eras, especially the question of who can be regarded as a ‘Mennonite’ and where boundaries are to be drawn."

    - Astrid von Schlachta (The Mennonite Quarterly Review)

    "For readers who may feel overwhelmed by the volume of books and articles that have appeared in recent years, European Mennonites and the Holocaust offers an excellent summary of the current state of scholarship. Anyone looking for an entry point into the rapidly growing literature on this sober, if controversial, topic would do well to start with this collection."

    - John D. Roth, Goshen College (Directions)

    "This collection will be a precious source for further archival research about these connections for future generations of Mennonite historians."

    - Sergei I. Zhuk, Ball State University (Journal of Mennonite Studies) "A persuasive and geographically comprehensive evaluation of the roles played by Mennonites (living in the Third Reich and Nazi-occupied territories of Poland, the Netherlands, and Soviet Ukraine) in the Holocaust of European Jews." - Benjamin W. Goosen, George Mason University (Antisemitism Studies) "In its breadth of coverage and rigorous research, it [European Mennonites and the Holocaust] will command a broad readership while serving well in undergraduate and graduate classrooms." - Ben Nobbs-Thiessen, University of Winnipeg (The Conrad Grebel Review) "This is a piece of research of which all contemporary Mennonites, especially ‘ethnic Mennonites’, need to be aware." - Veronica Zundel (Anabaptism Today)

    During the Second World War, Mennonites in the Netherlands, Germany, occupied Poland, and Ukraine lived in communities with Jews and close to various Nazi camps and killing sites. As a result of this proximity, Mennonites were neighbours to and witnessed the destruction of European Jews. In some cases they were beneficiaries or even enablers of the Holocaust. Much of this history was forgotten after the war, as Mennonites sought to rebuild or find new homes as refugees. The result was a myth of Mennonite innocence and ignorance that connected their own suffering during the 1930s and 1940s with earlier centuries of persecution and marginalization.

    European Mennonites and the Holocaust identifies a significant number of Mennonite perpetrators, along with a smaller number of Mennonites who helped Jews survive, examining the context in which they acted. In some cases, theology led them to accept or reject Nazi ideals. In others, Mennonites chose a closer embrace of German identity as a strategy to improve their standing with Germans or for material benefit.

    A powerful and unflinching examination of a difficult history, European Mennonites and the Holocaust uncovers a more complete picture of Mennonite life in these years, underscoring actions that were not always innocent.

    Published in Association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

    List of Illustrations
    Acknowledgments

    Introduction – Neighbours, Killers, Enablers, Witnesses: The Many Roles of Mennonites in the Holocaust
    Doris L. Bergen, Mark Jantzen, and John D. Thiesen

    Introduction to Chapter 1 – Mennonites and Nazi Crimes: Gerhard Rempel's Call for Historical Reckoning
    Doris L. Bergen

    1. Mennonites, War Crimes, and the Holocaust
    Gerhard Rempel, edited by Doris L. Bergen with John D. Thiesen

    2. Enjoying the Entitlements of German Freedom: German Mennonites and Nazi Church-State Policy
    James Irvin Lichti

    3. Antisemitism and the Concept of Volk: The Mennonite Youth Circular Community at the Beginning of the Nazi Dictatorship
    Imanuel Baumann

    4. German Mennonite Theology in the Era of National Socialism
    Arnold Neufeld-Fast

    5. Dutch Mennonite Theologians and Nazism
    Pieter Post

    6. Mennonite Collaboration with Nazism: A Case Study of the Responses of Mennonites in Deutsch Wymyschle, Poland, to the Plight of Local Jews during the Early Nazi Occupation Period (1939–1942)
    Colin Neufeldt

    7. Mennonites in Ukraine before, during, and Immediately after the Second World War
    Dmytro Myeshkov

    8. A Portrait of Khortytsya/Zaporizhzhia under Occupation
    Aileen Friesen

    9. Dutch Mennonites and Yad Vashem Recognition
    Alle G. Hoekema

    10. Identity and Complicity: The Post-Second World War Emigration of Chortitza Mennonites
    Erika Weidemann

    11. A Usable Past: Soviet Mennonite Memories of the Holocaust
    Hans Werner

    12. Selective Memory: Danziger Mennonite Reflections on the Nazi Era, 1945–1950
    Steve Schroeder

    List of Contributors
    Index

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